MORE than £2 million has been awarded to help fund a new laboratory at Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has agreed to invest in the new pathology laboratory which is expected to create 120 new jobs.

The £2.28 million it has agreed to give to the hospital will help secure £20 million in NHS match funding and follows the decision of BCP Council to provide a £15 million loan for the project last year.

The histopathology “diagnostic hub” is due to be built at Royal Bournemouth Hospital with the aim of improving the speed of testing in the county.

Stephen Harding, the head of service at One Dorset Pathology, the partnership between pathology services at the county’s three NHS hospital trusts, said the service would benefit everyone in the county.

“Diagnostic testing has an ever-increasing role in healthcare, with pathology used by over 80 per cent of patients to inform diagnoses and treatment plans,” he said.

“Every person in Dorset will use the service at some point in their life. Having the best available facilities will therefore benefit the majority of people in Dorset and allow our fantastic NHS staff to give the best possible care.”

The new facility is expected to create more than 120 new jobs.

Last year BCP Council agreed to provide a £15 million loan to the hospital to facilitate its construction and the NHS will match fund a further £20 million.

Its leader, councillor Vikki Slade who is also a member of Dorset LEP’s board, said the hub would make the county a “leading place” for histopathology.

Jim Stewart, the LEP’s chairman, said he was “extremely proud” that the investment had been agreed.

“The new Histopathology Diagnostic Hub will deliver against the strategic objectives as set out in the Dorset Local Industrial Strategy, utilising medical technologies to address the grand challenge of an ageing society and will be an important asset in improving healthy ageing,” he said.

“It will also support our ambition for Dorset to be a national leader in the One Health concept, adopting a holistic approach that ensures our population ages well and lives sensitively in the environment.”

Royal Bournemouth Hospital’s planning application for major expansion work, including the new pathology centre, was approved by the council last month.